Public Arts: Casita Triste

25 June 2018

Conceived in reaction to the recent development boom in Oak Cliff, Casita Triste [Sad Little House in Spanish] is an outdoor guerrilla art project by Giovanni Valderas that poignantly highlights the multifaceted results of upheaval.

As entire neighborhoods are torn down to make way for upscale apartments, this understated project has spurred a wave of discussion across Dallas about gentrification, dwindling affordable housing, and displacement.

As Valderas explains: “Casita Triste aims at highlighting cultures that are integral to our community’s social fabric. ...

Today, these vibrant neighborhoods are rapidly disappearing and being replaced by luxury condominiums and apartments which are often subsidized by city tax dollars.”

“These casitas are inspired by the brightly painted homes found in our Latinx neighborhoods, but they also give a visual voice to the voiceless, which are the families that are being pushed out.” [Latinx is a gender-neutral version of Latino.]

“I place the casitas in outdoor public spaces next to areas that are mostly being developed with subsidies from our city to build housing the community can’t afford to live in. This project looks to create awareness, reflection, empathy, and empowerment through advocacy,” while blurring the lines “between craft, art object, advocacy, and sentimental offering.”

Each “piñata house takes on anthropomorphic elements, prompting the viewer to empathize with the fragility, history, and experiences of the community,” he says.

“While the casita endures the hardships of life, it begins to disintegrate and eventually disappear, which becomes an analogy for Latinx community” in Oak Cliff.

The installations provide an opportunity for education and engagement as well: “Each casita contains a postcard giving the viewer the opportunity to advocate for affordable housing by sending their thoughts on the back of the postcard to City Hall.”